Time for a change and decisions?

I was hoping to get back to a more regular schedule but my body threw me a curveball in the form of my monthly friend with some wicked horrible cramping and bleeding this week.  I seriously am ready for menopause even with the fun that "the change" brings.  I feel like I am back in high school with the heavy periods and incapacitating cramps.  This meant I rested on Monday thanks to horrible headaches all day and then stayed in bed Tuesday morning to try and get some sort of sleep.  

Stella and I headed out post work to get as many miles as we could.  The corn is being harvested on our running route, meaning I had no clue how bad traffic would be with grain trucks heading to the Co-op and of course the gravel dust.  I have some in town routes, but I was curious honestly to see how the harvest was going.  They are rocking and rolling because one of the biggest fields was already bare.  We only had one or two times we had to put our buff on to protect against dust from grain trucks.  While it was a little hot, there was a cool breeze blowing that made it very nice out for getting in 5 miles.  

Post work Wednesday we headed out again to see how the harvest is going.   The upper fields are all done now, so they are out working on the lower fields by the river.  Soybeans are looking good and will be ready soon too.  Boom got some mommy time and while it was hot, there was a breeze blowing to cool all of us down.  

I didn't take the above picture, so all credit goes to Jamie our gravel road ride leader, but it's harvest time so the gravel was busy!  We had a doggy visitor come run with us and then we got yelled out for said romp.  I mean the dog has a strava segment named after it so this is a common issue and not the first time.  I know folks in the country commonly let their dogs out to roam loose but as a dog owner, I would NEVER do that for fear my dog would run out in the road.  Next time if we see the dog we will just stop and go knock on  the door because I am not going to be yelled at again, but geez, I kind of think it's the dog owner's responsibility to keep their dog in their yard.  Robin and I got a little over 15 miles in and despite a few tough hills, felt great.

On another note, I made a big decision this week to try the Herbalife shake program. I know, it's just a band aid, but at this point I have gained so much weight that I am truly miserable and need a jumpstart.  I am hoping that the shakes plus counting my macros and calories will help me get back to a better healthy state and weight.  I am not happy with the way I feel, the way I look, or the way my bloodwork is probably going to look when I have my yearly physical.  We have totally gotten into the habit of just eating out all of the time and I need to stop.  It affects all aspects of my life and  I can still eat out occasionally for dinner.  Honestly, I did a week of calorie counting and was below my normal in training calories, but the way I was getting to that count was not healthy.  My hope is that once I get to a normal weight for my height and build, I can cut back to one shake a day.  Just in a week I have lost 5 lbs, so hoping I can keep up the good work and get back to a more manageable size and get my health back on track.  

A short recap of the weekend here.  If you would like a longer drawn out recap, I did a live video on my blog page on Facebook: Running with Reds.  We had plans to head down Friday to practice and to stay, but unfortunately work got the best of us and we ended up working late and then hurriedly packing and heading to Topeka to drop the trailer and get in bed.  Oh well, we don't have cable so it was kind of nice to just lay in bed and watch TV.  The dogs were boarded at our local vet's office safe and sound.  

We slept in till 7:30ish and then laid around before heading to the track to do some work on the cars and get some practice in.  Night races are always fun because the track changes from the heats to the features, throwing a wrench in set up.  Andrew got to have the American flag on his car and be on the track for the national anthem, which I loved.  

Junior Honda (black and green car) was better than he has been doing.  Large field with 2 move ups from rookie class meant things might be interesting as seen above.  You can see Andrew zooming around the wreck, a good reason for him being reactive for once.  He tends to avoid these big wrecks and I am glad because the kiddo in the purple car hurt his thumb and had to scratch the rest of the night.  We started 4th and ended up 4th and then started 3rd in the feature and ended up 5th.  Not bad, still fighting the car and set up.  Tony found a broken part on the car that has been broken for who knows how long that probably was affecting Andrew's suspension.  Some day we will figure this car out.  

Junior Animal was a smaller field with only 4 drives starting and Andrew had good parts to both heat and feature.  He ended up 4th in both classes, as he just did not have the fastest car and that is on us.  Again, his starts were good and he held position for a while at the front till the faster cars overtook him.

 

Overall I am SUPER proud of how amazing he did, finish position doesn't matter to me right now.   His finish in Jr Honda will help him in the points (trying to aim for top 10 and top 5 would be HUGE icing on the cake).     We are so proud of his buddy above, Mr. Madden.  He has won Junior Honda the last two weekends and beat two very awesome experienced drivers.  We love racing with him and the other good kids because it pushes Andrew to work hard and gives him something to strive for.  I also love that post race they play their hearts out. I wished we lived closer because I feel like these two are going to be great friends for a long time!

Have a great week!  I only got 2 runs and a bike ride in but it is what it is.  Racing season is winding down with two more points races and one more two day fun race.  I am still mulling over possibly jumping into a 12 hour race (with my running partner coming with) with the goal of having fun and getting whatever mileage we get.  I am pretty sure at our pace we could easily get a 50K in 7ish hours and we could both get some pretty belt buckles.  The only thing holding me back right now is time to train with us trying to finish out the racing season on a good strong note.  Decisions, decisions :)  

Mix it up!

 

Mondays are normally rest days for me, but because I didn't get a run in pre or post Andrew's race, I had to felt fresh and ready to go.  Convinced Robin to head out with me and out the door we went with the weather feeling like fall.  Except my body didn't get the memo that everything was good and perfect outside.  I was short of breath although the humidity was below 60%.  I got hot quickly and was glad i had water even though it was 80 with a nice breeze blowing.  I felt like the harder I tried to catch up with Robin, the worse I felt.  My hip hurt, my hamstring hurt, and my feet hurt.  It slowly got all better but still what the heck????  I know I am close to 400 miles on my shoes, but still.  

Tuesday had a visit to Andrew's therapist, whom I really, really like.  They talked about who was on his string of love.  Love the fact that Elvis and boom made it on and his "girlfriend".   They are still establishing a relationship prior to the ADHD testing which is coming up in a few weeks.  His anxiety is pretty much quieted itself, thank goodness I think in large part to the getting back to some sort of routine.  

Back to my pumpkin saga.  I have learned so much about pumpkins after we magically had a pumpkin plant appear at our front door in a patch of rocks by the gas meter.  I now know how to pick out female flowers (see above) and pollinate them (see my work below).   We may be having a second pumpkin grow, stay tuned.  

I got to get adjusted on Wednesday and we are upping my supplement game.  I take a multi vitamin, a probiotic, and tumeric, but my chiro thinks I need to get back on a Vitamin D as well as a fish oil supplement. I haven't had much luck with fish oils, so here is to hoping I can swallow this huge pills and not burp up fish all day.  I am very excited about the Vitamin D since they are just once a week.  Whew.  Plus, my chiro can source both for a very affordable price.  I told her about my crappy run and how sore I had been and she immediately jumped to my diet....which is horrible.   She asked if I had done anything new or out of the ordinary.  Uh, well, kind of.  We did have wine and a lot of it over the weekend and I am not a wine drinker, but I do drink beer, so not sure if that is a trigger or not.  She did remind me wine has a ton of sugar in it and sugar overload equals inflammation.  

Thursday was a quick run and then a 14ish mile  ride.  My watch died mid ride, so not sure exactly how long we got but it was a fun trip.  It was so hazy from the fires  that I can't even imagine what it feels and looks like in California and Oregon.  Jamie picked a beautiful route that had some challenging hills and some nice flats.  It is so beautiful out on the gravel right now, but harvest is on the way so corn cob riding it is!

 

I decided since I had only ran twice this week with one run being a super short one, that i would head out on a run while Andrew was in piano.  Lucky for me, hubby took him to piano so I could work late and then go on a run with both of my kiddos.  They did SO good for me off leash, hanging out right with me without me having to say a word.  I am so lucky to have rural gravel roads to run on so they can be loose.  You can't see boom in the picture but he was right next to Stella like a good, good boy.  We got 4 quick miles in :)

Robin and I decided we wanted trails but we didn't want snakes or spider webs which meant heading to the rails to trail trail up in Marysville.  I am so glad we did because it was a beautiful morning and we saw lots of amazing flowers blooming along side the trail.   I love this trail but flat rail trails really beat me up for some odd reason and I was sore for the next two days.

Post running and showering, we headed out to try out Andrew's new motor on his Junior Honda car.  Lots of kiddos out practicing which meant limited track time but he put in quality work and I am glad that it is all coming together!  I think Tony is getting closer to figuring out the Junior Honda car and when he and Andrew get it together, well let's just say I can't wait!

Sunday was race day.  We had a new motor that was really not tested enough and a kiddo that was ready to race.  I will say he had one hell of a race day.  As always, we don't measure his success by his finishes but more on what goals we set for the day.  

We set our goals for the day being good starts, pass at least one car, and don't give up position unless the car behind you has a really good run on you.  He had amazing starts all day, getting to lead a few laps in several races.  In the Junior Honda heat, he started 4th and held off two amazing racers to finish fourth out of six racers.  The coin flip determined we inverted the field so he moved up to 3rd and inside, which is his favorite place to start.  While he had a run on the 1st place car, he didn't pass and ended up in second for a while, then third, then fourth and finally back to 5th.  The car was not fast enough to give anything to those first 4 and we knew it, being a new motor with just some practice laps on it.  We were VERY proud of both races and how he drove the car as hard as he could. That is all we ask for.  He even at one point was pushing the car SO hard he was up on two wheels and didn't get scared and back off.  His good buddy Madden got his very first feature win and we are so proud of how hard madden has worked all year to get that win!

 As always, his confidence lies in this car and he had amazing starts in both races.  In the heat race he ended up 2nd place to a very fast car (the one pictured behind him, stalking him).  I was proud of him maintaining his gap between him and 3rd and fourth and running good fast lines.  He was OH so close to breaking that 6.6 barrier laying down a 6.707.  GAH!  He ended up with another good start but the two cars that are just faster hunted him down and passed him.  Again, I am SO proud of how hard he drove and that he never gave up his good lines.  Those good lines are going to help him next year when he moves up to the senior classes before.  


Have a great week!  We have a night race this week and I hope to get more running and biking done.  

Labor day Laboring

Labor Day!  We celebrated by working on race cars and heading back to the track to practice.  We tried using visuals to help Andrew with his lines.  Clean lines equal no momentum lost.  Yes, kids can still win with bad lines, but the really fast kids and the kids that move on and do well in senior classes have clean lines.  At a point in time the faster cars won't drive well if they aren't on the best lines.  Crappy lines = spin outs.

He put in a good solid practice, pushing his car as far as he could.  We are still fighting his Jr Honda car (black and green) with set up issues, so who knows what will happen this weekend.  At least he is holding up his end of the bargain. I can't wait to see all of his hard work pay off.  

Tuesday's run was chilly with temps dropping from 90s down to 40s.  I love colder weather, but some sort of transition into colder weather would be nice mother nature!

Wednesday's run was just as chilly, but add in some driving rain that started about a mile and half into my run. I decided to tough it out and just keep running and finish my 5 miler.  

Due to several days of rain, our gravel bike ride was canceled, but the waffle fairy came and cheered me up :)  You know me, I love to support my local running store as much as possible, but I had to get some goodies during Honey Stinger's  Labor day sale.  I also got a new pair of shoes on clearance, which NEVER happens to me.  I was getting close to 400 miles on my current Altras, so started looking around since I wanted to stay with the year model I am currently with.  Low and behold, Runner's Warehouse had one size 8 pair (i normally wear a size 6.5-7, but in altra's I wear a size 8, go figure) on clearance, so I saved over 70 bucks.  My trusty local shoe store doesn't stock older models, which means I don't feel as guilty about buying from someone else.  

Saturday's long run wasn't particularly long.  We had briefly thought about heading to a race 2 hours away and then decided while it would be fun, the 2 hour drive was not worth it for a 10k, even if it were on trails.  Neither of us wanted to get up at the crack of dawn since the temps have been much cooler.  We settled on 8 miles at 7 am and it was glorious, although the humidity was still ridiculous at 98%.  Post running we headed into town for some yummy sandwiches and sweet tea and then off off to the parking lot sale at the antique store I so love to go to now.  

Can I just pause right here for a moment and say that my kid is wearing my shirt and pants in a size men's small????  Plus he can wear my shoes!!!!! We had to make an emergency trip to old navy for jeans and pants because none of the clothes I had set back for this winter fit.  No more guessing what size he will be in!

I really, really wanted this piece.  It was 25 bucks and super cute.  Who didn't have a telephone chair in their house?  I just couldn't figure out a great place to put it in my house so had to leave it there:(

I had contemplated a long bike ride as the weather was glorious.  After our adventures for the day, we decided to try a new to us place and catch some live music while social distancing instead of me heading out on the gravel.  We have two wineries in our little tiny town, 456 winery and Oz Winery.  Both have tasting rooms, but we aren't much on wine drinking so haven't really tried both out.  Wine mostly gives me a horrible headache the day after, so I tend to stick to beer.  456 winery was having a food truck and social distanced music and my live music loving heart overcame my hang over tendencies.  We had street tacos from a food truck, listened to a really good band that did a lot of 90s covers, and just had fun in a safe outdoor environment.  We tasted five different wines and chose a few to take home.  You could even take a chilled bottle to your table and we did so twice (whoops). Happy to say even after 2 bottles shared, no headaches so maybe i have finally found a wine I can drink.  Plus bonus, the grapes are grown in Wamego and the wine is made right down the street from our shop!

Sunday was race day.  Sigh.  We had so much momentum going into the weekend before and got a weekend off for the holiday.  Even though we practiced and he had amazing practices, he just was kind of flat day of.  Junior Honda was a mess with both the feature and the heat being dead last place.  Again, as always our criteria is just try and there was little to no try. He just doesn't like that car and doesn't push it but too bad, you are stuck with it this season.  Junior animal was better as he started 6th but made his way up to 4th in the heat.  We inverted so he started in third for the feature and had a GREAT start to move up to 2nd.  He hung on to second for about 7 laps till Makayla stalked him down and caught him.  He hung on to 3rd and had an impressive gap and hung with the leaders till he hit a car that had spun out.  Since he was avoiding, he got to keep his spot that time.  He hit lap traffic and didn't have a clean pass (see picture above) and got into it with his buddy Brody.  Due to the rules, they both had to go to the very back with only 8 laps left.  Even though he was ahead of Brody in position, he was behind him in the race so he tried again and passed with 2 laps to go.  That was his best 5th place finish ever :)  It's hard though, we had to talk frankly about the lack of try in the one class and he was one little upset dude.  I keep telling myself he is only 8, this is his first year of competitive racing and most of the kids in his classes have been at competitive racing a lot longer.  He will get it, we will practice lots this week and finish this season strong.  

Have a great week y'all! I am looking forward to another glorious week of fall like weather and some more racing!

  

BACK TO SCHOOL (Yes I am yelling and crying)

 Can you be utterly excited and terrified all at the same time about the same thing?  That is honestly where I am at right now.  I want my kiddo to have some sort of regular routine again, but at the same time I am terrified of an outbreak and what that means to the students and the teachers/staff.  We are watching the numbers spike in Manhattan (college town about 12 miles away) and wondering just how long they will be in school thanks to the college kids acting like well, college kids.  Our school system is starting off all in, so honestly, I think it is just a matter of time before we are at hybrid or all remote.  Sigh.  It really is a no win situation for either the parents or the school system/admins.  I am trying to stay positive, pray a lot for both students and staff/teachers, and run my stress off.

Running is about to get interesting.  My running partner is a teacher and she has to take temps, which means she will have to be at the school super early.  This means morning running during the week may not happen unless it's cool enough for me to take the dogs and go by myself.  I was an afternoon night runner for many years, so this isn't something new to me.  I just over the years I have converted to a morning runner and it's quite convenient, even though I really don't like getting up super early AT ALL to do anything.  We went through a brief cool off, but now are back to hot temps and high humidity.  Tuesday's run was horrible and hot and for whatever reason I brought Stella with me to suffer together.  We had had a good rain the day before, so lots of puddles and water for her to get into, and we stopped a lot to look at bugs and flowers and the soybeans when I felt like we both were getting too hot.    

Wednesday run was a bit warmer, but the humidity was much less.  Decided to do a no pups run and listen to a running podcast about a guy who ran under a 4 minute mile in college and now runs 100 milers.  It was super good (Look up Ben and Barry's Podcast for some good ones) and it kept me motivated to get 5 miles done instead of turning around at the 1.5 or 2 mile mark. 

 

First day of school FINALLY on Thursday after the longest spring break EVER! Again, nervous, excited, scared, terrified, ready (and that was both of us:).  Since we didn't have back to school night like normal, he had to lug in all of his supplies, which meant a kind of stressful morning getting everything labeled and ready to go.  Plus, this year he has a locker!  Who has lockers in 3rd grade????  They don't lock them thank goodness, just use them as a cubby outside of their class, but still.  I am SUPER glad we got there SUPER early and were the second in line for temp checks because the pictures of the drop off lines I saw on FB later were crazy long.  Hopefully we can keep up with getting there early every day and avoid the mess.  Picking him up later in the day was fun, again long lines but I got there early.  He came out with a HUGE smile on his face.  Best part of the day?  The new super cool playground, go figure.

Robin and I headed out for a quick 3 and then grabbed our bikes and got in close to 12 miles on the gravel with our tour guide Jamie.  Even thought it was still warm out, you could feel just a hint of fall in the air and I for one LOVE it.  We did mostly flat gravel with a  few small hills thrown in.  Kansas is SO beautiful this time of year with the sunflowers blooming.  We did decide to start going out a little earlier on Thursdays to not be in the dark so much, although soon it will be a moot point anyway, no matter how early we head out post work. 

 

Robin and I headed out for a longish run.  We are excited to hit some trails once it cools a bit and we don't have to get up at 4 am to head that way.  We actually went out a little later than normal and still caught a beautiful sunrise.  The temps were still manageable, but the humidity was horrible at 93%.  ICK.  It kind of hit me during our run, we should have been doing the Hawk today.  This summer has honestly beat me up and spit me out training wise.  I will more than likely not do any more early fall/late summer ultras unless it's a 50K or less.  I am still pretty sad as I don't know if Stella or I have another 50 miler in us.  I am going to try next April and then I think my desire to train for these big races is done :)  Stay tuned. 

Got up Sunday to hot and blustery so tried to get a quick bike ride in before we went to the track to practice.  I got 12 miles in on the gravel and in the industrial park and only felt like I was pedaling and not going anywhere a few times.  Tony has been working super hard on the cars as we are entering the final stretch of the season.  We now have fun because Andrew is pushing the car, working hard on the correct lines, and making our job easier as he can give feedback on whether the car is better or worse post tweaks.  

Have a great week y'all!  I am loving biking more and running less and think I will hang out at 4 runs a week and at least 2 bike rides.  I love having new biking friends that are always up for bike rides whenever on our abundant Kansas gravel roads.  I am not sure how next week will go with the snow and rain and yucky on the way.  At least I am not in a training cycle so I can just go with the flow!